Lincoln Beachey

Lincoln Beachey
(1887-1915)

Lincoln Beachey was perhaps the most famous and skilled stunt pilot of the pre-World War I era. As part of Thomas Baldwin's balloon troupe, Beachey helped build the dirigible California Arrow and made his first dirigible flight in 1905. Soon he owned his own dirigible and as a publicity stunt flew it around the Washington Monument, down the Mall, and landed on the lawn of the White House.

Beachey began learning how to fly an airplane in 1910, taking lessons from the Curtiss Flying School. He then joined the Curtiss flight exhibition team and began touring the country. Beachey soon became the team's star attraction, performing daredevil stunts that left audiences breathless.

He was the first to fly upside-down in an airplane and was the first American to fly a loop. He perfected the technique for recovering from a spin and was the first to intentionally stall and tail-slide an aircraft--and live to tell about it. Beachey performed for the largest audiences to that point in United States history, with average attendance of over 100,000 per show.

He became the first aviation "superstar," earning more than the national average yearly income every single time he performed at an airshow. Congress adjourned twice, in 1906 and again in 1914, to watch him perform.

Lincoln Beachey was killed during an airshow in San Francisco in 1915. While diving toward the bay at top speed, the wings came off his plane, causing him to plummet out of control. He was killed instantly.